How the princes came to the mountain
Our grandfather remembered the summer migration well. Trunks were packed in April, the household went up the ghat road, and the cooks followed with the pickles. Staying in one of these houses now, with tea on the veranda and a fire at night, you get a little of what those summers felt like.
The lease: in the nineteenth century the British leased the plateau from the Maharao of Sirohi, and Abu became the summer seat of the officials who managed the Rajputana states.
- Old state
- Sirohi, whose Maharao leased the plateau
- Role
- Summer headquarters for Rajputana's officials
- Houses built by
- Jaipur, Bikaner, Kishangarh, Jodhpur and others
- Highest point
- Guru Shikhar, 1,722 metres
- The princes followed: to be near the Agent and his staff, ruling families built summer residences on the hill, each in its own grounds.
- The style: a mix of English country house, colonial bungalow and Rajput detail, with verandas, fireplaces and steep roofs for the rains.
- Today: several of those houses are hotels. They have real history, old gardens and a calm you will not find on the lake road.
- What they are not: palaces on the scale of Jaipur or Udaipur. These were summer homes, built for comfort and conversation.
Where on the hill to stay
Above Nakki Lake
- Why: the best views and the dawn lake walk on your doorstep.
- Trade-off: traffic and noise on the lake road at weekends and in holidays. Choose a house set well above the road.
Towards Dilwara
- Why: wooded slopes, larger shaded grounds and the temples close by.
- Trade-off: a short drive to the lake and the bazaar.
Near the polo ground and Rajendra Marg
- Why: colonial bungalows and princely houses within walking distance of the main street.
- Who: travellers who like to stroll into town in the evening without a car.
The princely summer houses
Palace Hotel, Bikaner House
The house: built in 1893 as the summer residence of the Maharajas of Bikaner, designed by Sir Swinton Jacob, the architect of many Rajputana buildings.
The setting: a stone house in large wooded grounds near the Dilwara road, with lawns and old trees.
- Inside: public rooms with old-fashioned furniture and portraits, the air of a country house.
- Who it suits: history lovers, garden lovers and families who want lawns for children.
- Ask for: a room in the main building with a view over the gardens.
Jaipur House
The house: the former summer palace of the Jaipur royal family, on a hill above Nakki Lake.
- The view: its terraces look down over the water and the town to the hills beyond. Sunset here is one of the small, perfect pleasures of a Rajasthan journey.
- Who it suits: couples and anyone who values a view above all.
- Practical: close to the lake for the dawn walk and the evening stroll.
Kishangarh House
The house: built in 1894 and first called Victoria House, the summer retreat of the Maharajas of Kishangarh, the Rathore state famous for its painters.
- The setting: a terraced plateau in shaded grounds, within walking distance of the main street and polo ground.
- The feel: family-run, with a small number of rooms and cottages, intimate and home-like.
- Who it suits: travellers who want calm, character and a garden to read in.
Connaught House
The house: a colonial bungalow connected with the old Jodhpur state, on Rajendra Marg, now part of the WelcomHeritage group.
- The setting: flower gardens, steep roofs and verandas, like an English hill-station cottage.
- The feel: small and very quiet, with tea on the lawn in the afternoon.
- Who it suits: couples, readers and anyone who wants to step into a novel of the Raj.
The old club and the modern hotels
Cama Rajputana Club Resort
The place: near Nakki Lake, grown out of the old Rajputana Club, where officials and princes met in the summer season.
- The feel: more of a resort than the princely houses, with larger grounds and more facilities, in a mix of British and Rajput styles.
- Who it suits: families and groups who want some history with more space and activity.
- Choose carefully: rooms differ in age and style, so we pick specific ones.
Modern hotels in town
What they offer: lifts, modern bathrooms, family suites and predictable rooms.
- What they lack: space, gardens and soul, and many fill with holiday crowds and wedding parties.
- When we use them: for step-free access or many connecting rooms, choosing only those we have inspected recently.
What we avoid
The busiest stretch of the lake road: traffic and loudspeakers can run late on holiday evenings.
- Wedding-lawn hotels in season: a big celebration can take over the whole property.
- Unseen rooms: in Abu, two rooms in the same hotel can be very different.
A day in a princely summer house
Morning
Early tea: on the veranda while the mist lifts off the trees.
- Breakfast: in a dining room hung with portraits of the family who built the house.
- Out: Dilwara with a guide, or a walk round the lake before the crowds.
Afternoon
- Rest: a book in a garden chair, or a nap in a high-ceilinged room.
- The lawns: children play cricket, grandparents sit in cane chairs.
Evening
Sunset: a walk to the edge of the grounds, or a terrace above the lake.
- Dinner: late and unhurried, by a fire on cold nights.
- Why it works: none of this needs a spa or a cocktail bar. It needs a good house, a good room and time.
Dining in the old houses
Family recipes: the kitchens can cook the dishes of the families who built the houses, if you ask in advance: slow-cooked dals, Rajput meat curries and rotis from the tava, the iron griddle.
Gujarat next door: the mountain sits on the Gujarat border, so Gujarati dishes appear on many tables.
- Ask for
- A Rajasthani dinner or a family recipe
- Border flavours
- Gujarati dishes alongside Rajasthani
- In town
- Generous vegetarian thali restaurants
- By the lake
- Roasted corn at dusk
- By the fire: on a cold night, ask for dinner outside by a fire.
- In town: cheerful vegetarian thali restaurants, and roasted corn by the lake as part of the evening ritual.
- More: our Rajasthani food guide explains what to ask for.
Abu from the garden gate
The Dilwara temples
- What: Jain temples of white marble carved so finely the stone looks like lace, the oldest from the eleventh century.
- How: with a guide in the visiting hours, phones and leather left behind.
Nakki Lake
- What: the lake at the heart of the town, which legend says the gods dug with their nails.
- When: at dawn, before the boats and the crowds.
Guru Shikhar
- What: the highest point in the Aravallis, at 1,722 metres, with a small temple on top.
- When: early, before the haze. Ask your house for a packed breakfast.
Achalgarh and the forest
- What: an old fort and Shiva temple, and the wildlife sanctuary declared in 1960 around the plateau.
- Who: walkers and birders, best at first light.
Sunset Point and Toad Rock
- What: the classic hill-station viewpoints, lively at dusk.
- Our advice: watch sunset from a quiet terrace at your house instead, and climb Toad Rock in the morning.
The temples that bring most people up the hill
Go with a guide: the carving tells stories ceiling by ceiling, and a good guide reads it like a book.
- What
- Five Svetambara Jain temples of white marble
- Oldest
- Vimal Vasahi, about 1031
- Finest carving
- Luna Vasahi, 1230
- From town
- About two and a half kilometres
- Allow
- At least ninety minutes
- Photography
- Not allowed inside
- Dress for a working temple: shoulders and knees covered, leather belts and bags left in the car.
- Go on a weekday: visiting hours are fixed, and everyone queues at the same time on holiday weekends.
- Pair it with Ranakpur: if Dilwara moves you, the great Jain temple at Ranakpur is on the road north.
Heritage or modern, and what each gives you
The old houses give you: gardens planted a century ago, high ceilings, fireplaces, portraits and silence.
They also bring quirks: rooms that vary from grand to modest, slower service and plumbing that has its moods.
- Modern hotels give you: predictable rooms, modern bathrooms, lifts and room service.
- They usually lack: space and soul, and in the busy months they can feel crowded.
- Our usual advice: a princely house for at least one night, even on a tighter plan. It is why you came to the mountain.
- For the wider picture: our page on palace hotels explains what a true palace stay offers elsewhere in Rajasthan.
Two days on the mountain, the way we would spend them
Day one, arrival and the lake
Afternoon: drive up from Udaipur or Jawai, lunch at your house and a rest.
- Dusk: a walk down to Nakki Lake, then tea on a terrace as the lights come on.
- Night: dinner by a fire in the cool months.
Day two, Dilwara and the viewpoints
Dawn: the lake walk and the climb to Toad Rock before the crowds.
- Late morning: Dilwara with a guide in the visiting hours.
- Afternoon: the garden, a book and a long tea.
- Sunset: from a quiet terrace rather than the crowded Sunset Point.
With a third day
Early: Guru Shikhar before the haze, then Achalgarh.
- Afternoon: a forest walk with a naturalist, or Trevor's Tank for birds.
- More: our Mount Abu itinerary has one- to four-day versions.
What money buys here, and what it can't
The best room in the best house: the few original rooms with garden views go first, so we hold them early.
A car that waits: the lake road is narrow, and parking is hard. Your driver waits at every stop.
- A guide at Dilwara: someone who reads the carving, not just the dates.
- A naturalist at dawn: the sanctuary around the plateau is best on foot with someone who knows the birds.
- Private dinners: a table on the lawn by a fire.
- What it can't buy: an empty town on a holiday weekend. The answer is timing, not money.
Which house suits which traveller
Couples and honeymooners: Jaipur House for sunset over the lake, or Connaught House for a small bungalow and a garden. See our Rajasthan honeymoons.
Families: Bikaner House or Kishangarh House for lawns, or the Cama Rajputana Club Resort for more space and activity.
- Walkers and birders: a house towards Dilwara or on the forest edge, where the birdsong starts at first light.
- History and art lovers: any princely house, for three nights, with Dilwara, Achalgarh and an afternoon reading in the garden.
- Not for: travellers who want palace grandeur on the scale of Udaipur, or a quiet town on a holiday weekend.
Grand hotels on either side of Abu
Udaipur: about three and a half to four hours away, with the Taj Lake Palace on Lake Pichola and The Oberoi Udaivilas on its shore.
Jawai: about two and a half hours away, leopard country among granite hills. See Jawai.
- Narlai: on the road north, a former hunting lodge below a granite hill. See Narlai.
- Ranakpur: the great Jain temple on the way to Jodhpur. See Ranakpur.
- Into Gujarat: our Mount Abu and Gujarat journey continues down the mountain to Ahmedabad.
When to stay
Our favourite months: October, November, February and March, cool and clear, with the houses calm midweek.
Summer: families from Gujarat and the plains fill every room in May and June. Book months ahead.
- Calmest
- October, November, February and March
- Busiest
- May, June, Diwali and the New Year week
- Cold nights
- December to February
- Monsoon
- July to September, mist and green hills
- Festival
- Mount Abu Winter Festival, late December
- Winter: cold nights and fires in the evening. Ask about heating in high-ceilinged rooms.
- Monsoon: the hills turn green and mist drifts through the trees. Ask for a covered veranda.
- The Winter Festival: folk music and dance around the end of December. See Mount Abu Winter Festival. We confirm the dates each year.
- Month by month: see the best time to visit Mount Abu.
Getting to your house on the mountain
By road: most guests come from Udaipur, Jawai or Ahmedabad. We plan arrivals in daylight.
- From Udaipur
- About three and a half to four hours
- From Ahmedabad
- About four to five hours
- Nearest station
- Abu Road, about 28 km below
- Nearest good airport
- Udaipur
- By train: Abu Road station lies at the foot of the mountain, about 45 minutes' drive from town.
- Steep drives: some houses sit up steep private drives with stairs between buildings. Tell us about mobility needs.
- More: our guide to getting around Rajasthan explains how we plan transfers.
What we tell friends before they stay
Garden or view: a room facing the garden or the lake, not the drive or the road.
Heating: from December to February, check heaters and blankets. Old houses with high ceilings can be chilly.
- Steps: several houses are built on slopes, with terraces and stairs between buildings.
- Come midweek: weekends and holidays bring crowds up the ghat road.
- Two nights at least: one night on Abu is a stop on the road. Two or three is a stay.
- Dilwara rules: cover shoulders and knees, and leave leather items behind.